The author of this article, AI Alignment Is Trivial, is overlooking the lessons learned from the Internet. The real concern is not with the technology, but rather knowing our own flaws as humans. The author seems to be saying that we humans have control over the situation because all we have to do is not “program” AI with things like ambition. Unfortunately, we know there will be people who in fact will “program” AI to do these things in order achieve their own ambitions. All of technology, and AI in particular, is an amplification of humanity’s strengths and weaknesses. One of our weaknesses is not knowing that there are things that even if we can do them, we should not do them. AI alignment is not trivial because human alignment is impossible.

The State Of Sports

In the Atlantic there is an article (subscription required) that is an ode to the one-hand backhand, which is how I was taught to play tennis, but is rarely used today because tennis, like most sports, has devolved into all power. The author extends this point to basketball and the three point shot and he could have also made the point with pitching in Major League Baseball. All are examples, in an innocuous topic as sports, of how the ends now justify the means.

Even an unguardable move such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s iconic ��skyhook” would lose its luster in today’s money-balled NBA, where the statisticians have proved that the smartest way to play involves enormous quantities of three-point shots. There have perhaps never been more talented athletes and marksmen and less variety of gameplay. Everyone leverages the same generic (if often impressive) step-back three.

I don’t think there is a more fitting example of how Detroit is rising up than the restoration of the Michigan Central Station. I hope to see it in person soon.

If something like inflation starts going bad during a President’s term, and then under that President that something improves or is better than when he started, should that person not be re-elected? What is more important, that it got bad or that it got better?

Currently reading: Naming the Powers by Walter Wink 📚

I think this is a good book (series of books actually) for those who desire to follow Jesus to read at this time. The quote below is just one example:

The Weather Underground correctly criticized the U.S. government for its barbaric violence in Vietnam and then mirrored the very barbarism it condemned by adopting violence as its means. Whenever we let the terms of struggle be dictated by the Power that we oppose, we are certain to become as evil. Nothing about this insight is new. It is written for anyone to read in Rev. 17:15-18. There the Beast on whom the Harlot (Roma) sits turns against her and shifts his allegiance to the ten enemy kings. These will hate the harlot and burn her up with fire. The Beast can shift loyalties precisely because he knows that the means employed to overthrow the Harlot will make the kings every bit as much the children of hell as she. (Emphasis added)

I assume that in the above Wink is referring to the Weather Underground as known as The Weathermen. The Weathermen emerged from the campus-based opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War and from the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Wikipedia

The difference is – you have to use something before your criticism makes any sense. That was the mistake the music industry made with Napster. What the journalists made regarding bloggers (we’re they’re sources, tried to say over and over but they don’t listen they just like to talk and be admired and our job as usual is to give them money and stfu). – Dave Winer, Tech Is About People

I am seeing lots of people in my social feeds reacting as if these are normal times. As much as I would like to think people will not elect a felon, who cannot even vote for himself, as President, I think too many will rather see that as a badge of honor.

For those who wish to use their vote to protest the U.S. participation in the genocide occurring in Gaza with their vote for President, I suggest you consider two things. First, if Trump is President rather than Biden would our participation be any different? Second, if Trump is President, which means Republicans rule, how likely do you think you can succeed at forcing change? Finally, accept that for any person to be elected President in the United States they need to be a viable national candidate with a real chance to win the electoral college. The candidate must win states not just votes. I also think for change to really occur the Senate is what needs to change more than the President. No law passes in the United States without votes from 60 or more Senators. No person becomes Supreme Court Justice without votes from 60 or more Senators. Focus on the Senate. How do your state’s Senators view Gaza?

The Debate Never Resolved.

Currently reading: Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean 📚

Yesterday I read an article about James Buchanan that is inspired by this book, which I remembered I had in my Amazon library but not yet started reading. Consequently, I started reading and once again reminded of how the United States was founded.

The narrative taught when I was in school is that most people who immigrated to the new world did so to escape persecution, which was true for many people who came to the continent AFTER it was discovered. The motives behind the discovery of the continent was driven by wealth, whether through a shorter trade route to the east or the appropriation of land or gold.

Common folks who left Europe for a better life where not too much involved with the government or the decision to declare independence from England. The people who formed the United States did so to preserve their wealth, much of which starting to be generated from the plantations of the south.

Once the revolutionary war was over the people who sought independence had to decide how the new world was to be governed. Eventually what we know as the U.S. Constitution was drafted, but there was strong debate over whether there should be a single entity and a strong federal government or a federation of sovereign states. Advocates of a federation, who became known as anti-federalists, were fearful of a central government impinging upon individual rights, which honestly had much to do with the right to become as wealthy was one wishes in whatever manner one wishes, including enslaving others.

History says a compromise was reached with the Bill of Rights and the Federalists won the day, but the Federalists/Anti-Federalist debate, which was about power, continues. It lead to the Civil War and it is the root of the Dobbs Decision, and as this book chronicles, the Anti-Federalist cause has been systemically been carried out over the last five decades. I am convinced their success is in large part due to the profound lack of knowledge about history.

Why do tech reviews matter? Are iPad sales affected in any way by the ‘iPadOS is too constrained" reviews? I don’t think they are, and I think most push back against the “formulaic” iPad reviews is due to the tone of the reviews more than the content.

Remembering Sacrifice

As I reflect upon what I wrote earlier today about Memorial Day, it occurs to me that my thoughts about the meaning and purpose of this day are consistent with how I was always taught. Memorial Day is a day of remembering those who died in service for our country, yes, and because of those sacrifices I enjoy freedom. What an individualistic point of view to think of how I benefited from the sacrifice others! What is lost in narrowing the view down to myself is seeing the good in the sacrifice.

We live in an extremely cynical world that teaches humanity only seeks personal advantage, that we are primarily driven by self-interest. The concept of sacrifice pushes against this cynicism. People who run into a burning building and sign up to serve in the military do not want to die but they understand the possibility and and do anyway because they are not driven by self-interest.

It is good to remember those who died in service to our country, and it is even better to remember why they died, which was less for our individual freedom and more for something beyond themselves, something good that they themselves would not enjoy. Cynicism and contempt of others is not the lesson of Memorial Day. Cynicism teaches us why there is evil, but in a such a worldview the far more interesting and important questions is, why is there any good?

On Memorial Day, when we remember the sacrifices of those who died serving our country during war, we ought to reflect on what it is that these people thought they died for. Did they die for my freedom or our freedom? Is it not the case that the concept of sacrifice is the antithesis of individualism?

Unofficial start of summer based on the blooming rhododendron.

The tariffs on imports from China first imposed by Trump and continued by Biden did not increase jobs in the U.S. but increased prices. While imports from China decreased they were simply replaced by imports from other countries. Assuming the purpose for the tariffs was to increase jobs in the U.S., it should be obvious this would happen because the tariffs don’t address the root cause problem which is that corporations are not really interested in hiring more workers in the United States. On the whole the United States is the last place a corporation wants to add labor because it has the highest cost. Imposing tariffs is simply pandering for votes.

Dave shared an easy way to transcribe voice mails to Google Docs, and I read it I thought, “that’s cool” but then asked myself, when is the last time you received a voice mail that you would want transcribed? For me voice mail is like fax machines, technologies of the past that are still around me but no longer really used. At my age I struggle to let these go, like our home phone land line.

Feeds All Around provides a way to discover RSS feeds related to a mastodon account. The app appears to be able to dig out the RSS feed from a site. Because it uses Mastodon it provides a way to drill down to followers of followers, and therefore is a bit of a rabbit hole. I plugged in my Mastodon handle and did some exploring. Found via Darren Hester.

Cicada Brood emergence time cycles with prime numbers like 13 and 17 years may be an evolutionary protection against predators.

Eleven elements of the Periodic Table are in the human body. The human body is an incredible, but there is a surprising amount about it, particularly the brain, that we don’t know.

It was a beautiful July day here in southeast Michigan.

The spread of major sports streaming outlets is getting ridiculous. Netflix will be streaming two NFL games on Christmas day. At least that is a service I already subscribe to rather than Apple TV.